The Secrets to a Phenomenal Hot Oil Hair Treatment: Part 1 – Creating

As I write this, at noon on a Tuesday, my hair is covered in the hot oil treatment you see pictured in this post. My locks are topped with the pink shower cap. The sun is shining and it feels like spring in January. My cat … he is licking my neck.

Life is good.

Of all the crunchy things you can do for your hair, the hot oil treatment is – by far – the most satisfying and luxurious. I do them once a week, on average, and I’ve finally gotten the routine down to an art. Here are my secrets, and a step-by-step guide to getting the most out of your own homemade hot oil hair treatments.

This is a LOT of information, so today we’re just going to cover the basics on how to create your own hot oil for your hair and all the yummy goodness you can add (or not). Part 2 will be the best ways to apply, clean off, and use your hot oil hair treatments. (Too much information, so little room on the internet.)

Your Hair On Oil: Why You Should Do a Hot Oil Hair Treatment

You may be thinking to yourself: “My hair is oily already. Why on earth would I do this?”

Or, alternatively, you may be thinking: “My hair is so dry! Why haven’t I done this already?”

Either way, good news. The hot oil hair treatment is for ALL types of hair, and you can customize it to do awesome things for your mane, regardless of its texture or typical condition. The key is to choose the right ingredients for your hair type.

The oils you choose will infuse your hair – made up primarily of a protein called keratin – with much-needed moisture and strengthening compounds, leaving it soft and flowy. Helping you get rid of that annoying frizz. Leaving the unfortunate split ends smoother and less noticeable (at least for a while).

Choosing Your Oils

Frankly, you can use just about any oil you desire for your homemade hot oil hair treatment. If you want to go easy on yourself, just heat up a little olive oil and slather it on your hair. That’ll do just fine.

But if you want to use a more personalized technique, here are the oils you should consider using (and blending!) for a more phenomenal experience:

Jojoba oil: One of my favorites, and the best choice for those of you who have oily hair to begin with. The constitution of jojoba oil is much like that of our own natural skin and hair oils. It will leave your hair soft and light, without weighing it down.

Coconut oil: My other absolute favorite hair oil. Talk about shine and softeness! Coconut oil is great for all hair types. And, as a bonus, if you have a bit of flaking or dandruff, a coconut oil hair treatment will help fix that right up.

Castor oil: Many of you know, as per the oil-cleansing method, that castor oil has some drying properties. This makes it a great option for those of you with oily hair. But it’s also a powerhouse at adding strength to your hair, so those of you with thin hair that breaks easily, think about using castor oil in your hot oil hair pack.

Sesame oil: This delicious oil adds conditioning and shine, and is great for any hair type; however, historically it’s been used to help slow down hair loss and was used to successfully treat thinning hair.

Avocado oil: As one of the most emollient and moisturizing oils you can find, avocado oil is a particularly good choice for those of you with really dry and frizzy hair.

Of course, there are myriad other oils you can use in your personalized hot oil recipes. Oils like argan, sweet almond, apricot kernel, kukui … the list goes on. They’ll all leave your hair soft and shiny, but they may be a little more pricey and difficult to find.

You can stop right here, if you want. There’s no reason why, if you’re pressed for time, you can’t just warm your favorite oil, slather it on your hair, leave it on for 30 minutes and then wash. That’s perfectly fine.

But when you move on to the next step and add in herbal infusions or other goodies, you’ll take your luxurious homemade hot oil treatment to the next level.

Creating Your Fantabulous Herbal Hot Oil Hair Treatment

Truth is, we could do an entire month’s worth of posts just talking about the different herbs to add to a hot oil hair treatment.

Instead, I’m going to give you a breakdown of the most common ones and you can choose what works best for your hair.

I made mine with rosemary and horsetail.

The quickest and easiest way to personalize your hot oil is by using essential oils. However, I prefer to steep my oil in real dried herbs before using it. It just feels more … thorough. More crunchy. More fun!

You can choose herbs to help boost the color of your hair, to add even more moisture, to clarify and add shine, or to add strength and elasticity. Here are a few ideas:

How to Steep the Herbs in the Oil

Once you’ve decided on the herbs you’ll use, you’ll need to infuse your oil with them. The quickest method is to steep the herbs in the oil over low heat for about 30 minutes.

Steeping the rosemary and horsetail on a makeshift double boiler.

How to do it:

Place about 3 Tablespoons of the oil(s) of your choice in a makeshift or real double boiler. Turn the heat on low and add 1 to 1-1/2 Tablespoons of your chosen herbs. Let this steep for about 30 minutes on low.

Strain the herbs from the oil into a small glass container using a piece of cheesecloth or a coffee filter.

You can store this oil for up to 6 months in a tightly lidded container.

You CAN make a big batch of this to keep for the future. Just double, triple, quadruple the instructions above and store your hot oil hair treatment in a tightly lidded container for up to 6 months.

At this point, you can stop and use your hair oil just as it is, or move on to the next step, which is adding more goodies:

Adding Extra Goodies to Ramp Up Your Hot Oil Hair Treatment

This step is purely optional, but if you’re really serious about your hair treatments – or if you want to make this as a special gift for someone else – you might want to add some extra ingredients to nourish your hair and turn it into a sensation.

If you’re going to use your hair treatment right away, you can mush or whisk in in things like:

Crunchy Betty’s Favorite Hot Oil Hair Treatment

Place oils, rosemary, and horsetail in a small double boiler (or makeshift double boiler) and heat on very low, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes to an hour. Strain the herbs from the oil into a small glass container using cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Add in the other ingredients and stir well. Use immediately or store for up to 6 months.

Tomorrow: How to Use Your Hot Oil Hair Treatment!

In the meantime, have you ever made your own hot oil hair treatments? If so, do you have any particular tips and tricks that have worked for you?

Related Posts:

WHAT’S FRESH AT CRUNCHY BETTY’S NATURAL MARKET

See something you like on Crunchy Betty, but you don't want to make it yourself? Check out Crunchy Betty's Natural Market on Etsy to find all sorts of fresh and natural handmade skincare items.
Take a look at the popular Moisturizing Facial Oil - Blended with acneic and oily skin in mind! (Soaks into your skin and nourishes from the outside in)!
Crunchy Betty Natural Market's BEST seller!: Kokomo Cream Handmade Deodorant - a light, lime-and-coconut cream deodorant packed full of ingredients to keep you fresh and oh-so-soft.

Comments

Thank you for all this lovely advices I like it! yes I my have some idea Geranium essential oil can strengthen the hair, clove bead is good for straiten curly hair if used in carrier oil and left over night, cider wood for dried and damaged hair, rosewood can enhance blood circulation in the hair and stimulate hair growth surprising even hair how had folling long time ego!

Thank you for all this lovely advices I like it! yes I my have some idea Geranium essential oil can strengthen the hair, clove bead is good for straiten curly hair if used in carrier oil and left over night, cider wood for dried and damaged hair, rosewood can enhance blood circulation in the hair and stimulate hair growth surprising even hair how had folling long time ego!

Hi Betty and everyon elese on the forum I did the recipe above and followed it preciselly but the neem oil in the oil mixture smells reallyyyyyyy bad :( Is this oil recipe supposed to smell that bad????

After my hair lost it’s natural glow when I dyed it blonde, I began looking for a hair oil to restore its healthy sheen. Not only does the Shielo Hair Oil have a wonderful smell, it made my hair silky soft and gave it a lustrous shine.

I tried many different hair conditioning products, only to be left disappointed. Many of the other hair oils I tried either did nothing for my hair, or left my hair incredibly greasy. Shielo’s Oil is the first conditioning treatment that has left my hair silky soft and shiny without weighing it down.

Does ground cinnamon work as well as cinnamon sticks? Right now, my oil is turning brown (I used coconut oil, parsley, rosemary and ground cinnamon)and I’m not sure if I’m doing it correctly. Also, if you don’t have any coffee filters, does a regular strainer work?

I have seen on internet a few people saying that one should add no more than 3 drops of essential oil. I have so many issues with mine that I have bought 5 oils and I was planning to add one drop from each to the 3 spoons of oil, along with the neem and carrot oil, just like in you recipe. Is it too much? I have lavender, mint, sage, rosemary and chamomile. How do you think it would be most efficient?

Hello.i cut my locks about 4 months ago. I had them for about 13 years to me they wasn’t as healthy as they use to be so nowi rocking a short cut however i do want to lock again but my hair now has been shedding tremendously and i dont know what to do…can you please help me to get the length back so i can start over again

I just wanted to add that Argan Oil is, in my opinion, one of the best oils to repair. I am biased as we do have a company selling Argan Oil!
We also have a natural oil blend which contains our 3 favourite oils 1 for scalp and roots, one for repairing the hair shaft and another to add a high gloss shine.

You can do the hot oil treatment every so often but you can also use very small, 1 or 2 drops!, of oil warm the oil and work into hair after washing as a conditioner.

This also really helps protect against hot hair treatments like straightening irons.
More info, Argan Oil and some free ebooks on our site.
regards
Malika

Just wanted to say thanks for this, it really came in handy. Today I was being my usual independent self and spent several hours working on my car. As a result, I got dirt, grease, grit, oil, anti-freeze and yet more dirt in my hair. It was so bad today that I honestly thought I was going to have to shampoo my hair with Dawn. So I decided I would probably have to do some very heavy conditioning. Before I headed into the shower with my dish soap, I wondered if I could find a DIY hot oil treatment for my hair. And that’s when I found you. I read the article and decided it certainly couldn’t hurt, but I wasn’t sure it would work on the mess on my head. I made a treatment of coconut oil, almond oil and olive oil with an infusion of chamomile and followed your advice. It worked. It worked insanely well. “Like breaks down like” is my new mantra. No Dawn was used and my hair is very happy right now. And so am I.

I have oily hair, but still needed a conditioner at the same time to protect my color treated hair – and the Shielo Color Protect line works perfectly. Even if you do not put color in your hair. It makes my hair shine and the shampoo is not heavy. This is one of the first shampoos that has really worked for me, and the Shielo conditioner did not leave my hair oily at all.

When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox
and now each time a comment is added I get several
emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove
me from that service? Thanks!

Just wanted to share here that if you are looking for exceptionally delicious oils to make this awesome recipe with, check out our site! Organic, Unrefined, Fair Trade and Pure, they really do nourish your hair from root to scalp. :) We sell in bulk, and there’s also yummy essential oil blended perfumes, body butters and oils. :) Happy Hot Oil Hair Treating!

My hair is a bit drier than it was when I was younger (im 45+). I also live in a very dry climate in western Colorado which also contributes to the dryness of my hair. I use the Shielo Restore Oil because its perfect for making my hair soft and moist again. I have short hair so I only use a small amount on my fingers and spread it through all of my hair. I can shower twice a day when necessary and if I use the Shielo Oil, my hair does not dry out. I like the result!

I am part of some type of weird hybrid breed of curly hair that looks thick because it literally takes over my head, but happens to be fine. I also have very sensitive skin which makes for an even more sensitive scalp. So I have to be careful even when going the natural route…. There are lots of good tips here. Olive oil and Castor oil are my two staples. I would also recommend Grapeseed oil as I did not see it in the list. I like those three because they are easy to get and you can pretty much find them anywhere. They are excellent base oils and mix well with others. Avocados and Bananas are manna from heaven for hair.

I have very long colored hair that gets dry at the ends. I rub the Shielo Restoration Oil into wet or dry hair and the ends of the hair are just as supple as the hair at the roots. Plus, I am very, very tender headed and this Shielo Oil makes comb out easy-peasy.

Hi. I went to cosmetology school as well as massage therapy school and I have to tell you that hot oil treatments are one of the most over looked things you can do for your hair and for your self. They are cheep and easy to do . My four little girls and I do them all the time. They thinks it’s great we have mommy/ daughter spa days. The one thing I do have to say is you need to make sure that all essential oils being used are pure therapeutic grade oils because if they are not pure they contain sulfides and other bad chemicals that will counter the oil you are using in your hair. Keep the blogs going.

Fantastic tips..I knew I needed a hot oil treatment and didn’t want to get a store bought one because I just want the oils not the chemicals ( that help to lenghthen the shelf life) and this artical was just what I needed.

Chances are they’ll have more time to talk with you in-depth and help prepare your roofing project when the weather becomes reasonable.
If it is your first time getting into an agreement,
you may ask somebody who is knowledgeable
in those matters. The best way to evaluate contractors’ efficiency is look for references in their completed work.

Trackbacks

[…] a moisturizer and eye makeup remover! It is incredible. Conditioner – Coconut can be used as a deep conditioning treatment for hair and scalp. Massage into your scalp and leave on for at least 30 minutes, or longer, then wash. If you […]

[…] Hot Oil Treatments – If you want to really get the shine and moisture into your hair, try using a hot oil treatment. These are easy to use, and are applied to clean, damp or towel-dried hair. You can even make your […]

Crunchy Shopping!

Recent Crunch

What’s Fresh At Crunchy Betty’s Natural Market

Disclosure: On occasion, you'll find affiliate links throughout Crunchy Betty posts. When you click through these links and purchase a product, a small percentage of the sale goes to support Crunchy Betty. I will never, ever post affiliate links to sites I don't personally shop at, or for companies whose policies I find contrary to our crunchy ideals.